How did the U.S. Constitution address the issue of slavery?
A) It abolished slavery throughout the United States.
B) It included provisions that protected the institution.
C) It granted enslaved people full citizenship.
D) It ignored the issue of slavery entirely.
Question & Answer
How did the U.S. Constitution address the issue of slavery?
1 Answer
Verified archiveThe correct answer is B) It included provisions that protected the institution.
The U.S. Constitution, created in 1787, included several clauses that indirectly protected slavery, such as the Three-Fifths Compromise (Article I, Section 2), which counted enslaved individuals as three-fifths of a person for representation purposes, and the Fugitive Slave Clause (Article IV, Section 2), which required that escaped enslaved people be returned to their enslavers. This demonstrated that slavery was recognized and protected rather than abolished or ignored.